Rumour Has It
by iamconcussed
Summary: Ginny becomes the unfortunate victim of the newest rumour at Hogwarts. It seems like the only way to end the rumours is to make them true. DM/GW
1. Chapter 1

She sighed for the thousandth time since she had begun the study session only 30 minutes prior. It seemed that her partner was unable to do anything but ignore her and complain. Even when he was put on the spot to answer a particularly difficult question, he merely shrugged, not even making a move for the many books she had brought with her. Didn't he understand that this whole arrangement was a favour, and not something she had wanted to do on a Friday night? Fifteen galleons was supposed to cover this and three more sessions. Ginny didn't think she had it in her.

"And what about a remote? In what room might you find a remote?" she asked him, shuffling through her papers trying to find an easier question for him.

He turned in his seat and smirked, running a hand through his soft blond locks. "The bedroom?"

"Okay," Ginny began slowly, thinking he might possibly be on the right track, "and what else would need to be in the bedroom for there to be a remote?"

He let out a soft chuckle. "A sexually unsatisfied redhead with her three year old standard issue skirt hiked up around her waist."

"Listen," she reasoned, "if you aren't going to even try and participate, then I'm going to leave. This is ridiculous, you're not even attempting to learn." Ginny began to sit up from her place on the floor, getting on her knees to reorder all of her papers.

"Fine. I didn't want your help anyway, Weasley," Draco spat, turning around in his chair to kick over her pile of books.

She paused where she was and looked up at him. "You know, Professor Burbage asked me to help you, it wasn't something I just thought would be fun." Ginny began picking up the library books he had scattered. "You're a prick."

Draco gave her a dirty look and stood up. "Here, I'll see you out."

"You know," Ginny started, finally standing from her knees, "you're going to lose your Headboy status if you fail a class, and you won't graduate. But I'm sure you're much more worried about the possibility of not having your own room." She began to pick up the books but then left them. "In case you want to do some reading on your own," she smiled, kicking the pile she made.

"Get out," he demanded, pushing the portrait door to his room open. He placed his hand on the small of her back and shoved her, closing the door behind her.

"Wait, who's that?" Lavender asked Parvati, squinting and leaning out of the alcove just slightly. The two had been camped outside of Draco's Headboy room every night for a fortnight.

"I can't see through your big head," Parvati huffed, pushing Lavender over. "Is it Pansy?"

Lavender shook her head. "She's taller and she… no… she… she just went down the other hall."

"What?" Parvati demanded, stepping out of their hiding spot to inspect the girl further. She ran across the hall quietly and turned the corner. Her jaw dropped when she saw whom she was following. "Ginny?" she asked, hoping her eyes were deceiving her.

Ginny turned around and smiled. "Hiya Parvati, you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Parvati answered, raking her eyes over every inch of the redhead, looking for some clue of what had happened in Draco's room. Then her eyes froze on Ginny's knees. She was staring intently at the biggest gossip since Theodore Nott was caught touching himself to Men's Quidditch Quarterly in the locker room. "What are you doing out so late?"

Ginny rubbed her eyes and shrugged. "Something stupid. You know when you tell yourself exactly how something is going to go and even though you don't really believe it, you just keep promising yourself it'll be different?"

"Yeah," Parvati answered, keen on understanding where Ginny was going.

"Well I just did something and it went exactly how I was worried it might," she sighed, rolling the sleeves of her oxford shirt back down.

"Are you okay?"

Ginny nodded. "Just disappointed in myself really. Some things aren't worth all the galleons in the world, and they're especially not worth only fifteen."

Parvati tried to hide her shock. "Oh, well, sorry, Ginny."

Ginny looked at the older girl with question. "Yeah, no worries. See you tomorrow," she said, turning around to continue her walk to Gryffindor Tower.

Parvati power walked back to Lavender, her excitement uncontainable. "It was Ginny, and you won't believe it."

"What?" Lavender urged waving her hands, wanting to hear what Parvati had seen.

"She had two big red spots on her knees, like she'd been in there kneeling," Parvati squealed.

"Merlin! Ginny Weasley giving Draco Malfoy a blowjob? This is the gossip of the century," Lavender cried.

"Yep! And get this… he paid her fifteen galleons for it!"

Lavender's smile stretched ear to ear. "Do you know what this will do to the entire school? The absolute drama it will cause?" The blonde covered her mouth before laughing uncontrollably. "Let's call the girls," she said. "We need to meet immediately with Millicent, Padma, Hannah, and Ernie!"


	2. Chapter 2

Ginny rolled her shoulders as she sat up in bed. Sleep wasn't even helping relieve her muscle tensions anymore. She pushed her rouge waves back from her face and got out of bed, not bothering to fix her sheets or bedding.

"Have a good study last night?" Matilda asked, a strange tone in her voice.

Ginny raised an eyebrow at her roommate, "Not particularly." She brushed the girl off and began to get dressed. As she entered the common room, Ginny realised that more than a few people were staring at her. She instantly went red, looking down and running her hands over her skirt, making sure no one could see her undergarments. Once she had made sure her outfit was in place, she looked around once more. It was mix of expressions from her peers: some looked shocked, some disgusted, but others looked very interested. One boy in the corner gave her a crooked smile and raised his eyebrows before walking over to her.

"Morning, Ginny," he said, holding out his hand.

Ginny took it slowly, confused. "Erm, morning. Sorry, do we know each other?"

The brunet shook his head. "No, but we should. I'm Jonas."

She opened her mouth to respond when Lucy, one of the girls from her potions class, walked over, gasping and flailing her arms about.

"What are you doing?" she snapped at Jonas.

He muttered something under his breath and ran a hand through his short hair. "Just, just, talking."

"Are you kidding me? You're disgusting!"

Ginny looked back and forth between the two and began to walk away.

"And you," she started, gripping at Ginny's shoulder, pulling her back.

"What is your problem?" Ginny asked, pushing the girl's hand from her. "He was talking to me. I don't even know him."

"I know what you do," Lucy spat. "Stay away from him." She snaked her hand around his arm and locked her fingers with his.

Ginny nodded. "Ok," she said simply, hoping to get out of the situation as fast as possible. A survey of the room showed that everyone was watching.

"I mean I know you're poor, but seriously. Have some self-respect…" Lucy tossed her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder.

Ginny let out an exasperated sigh, "I don't know what you're talking about! I don't even know…"

"I know about Draco Malfoy. Everybody does," Lucy whispered, pursing her lips.

Ginny narrowed her eyes, looking at the girl with question. How her tutoring sessions had gotten out was beyond her, but what confused her more was the fact that anyone seemed to take offence by them. "Professor Burbage asked me to, I didn't just offer myself up."

Lucy scoffed and looked around the room. "Don't blame this on a professor!"

The room jeered around them, and Ginny's heart beat quickly in her chest. She looked around for anyone who could help her, but her brother was known for sleeping in, Harry was probably already out flying, and Hermione was staying in the Head Girl room. Her eyes met Neville's, but he didn't look like he was going to save her, rather he looked quite embarrassed himself.

"I…I don't…what are you…" Ginny stuttered, panicking.

People from the crowd around them yelled back at her response. She tried to catch what they were saying, but many overlapped.

"Slag!" she heard one of the fourth years yell from the front.

Finally her eye caught someone who could actually save her. Dean Thomas was coming down the stairs from the boy's dormitory with Seamus. The two stopped as they entered, looking around the room with shocked expressions. As soon as Dean spotted Ginny in the centre of the ring, he sprung into action.

"Move," he grunted, pushing smaller students out of his way. To be fair, almost every student in the castle was a smaller than Dean. "Alright, alright!" he called to everyone, holding his hands up. The chattering dissipated. "Everyone's going to be late if they don't get a move on." He waited, but no one moved an inch. "Go!" he bellowed, prompting everyone to jump and go about their business.

"Bitch," Lucy whispered to Ginny.

"Fuck off," Dean said simply, throwing an arm around Ginny. He guided her out of the common room slowly, leading her somewhere. Her feet moved without thought, following Dean. He pushed the door open to an unused classroom and closed it behind them. He sighed and looked down at Ginny. "Do you know what's going on?"

"No," she answered simply, her voice cracking.

He nodded. "Have a seat."

She complied.

He sat across the aisle from her and pinched the bridge of his nose for a second before looking at her. "Listen, I do not judge you at all, for anything. But I have to ask you something, okay?"

"Dean…" she whimpered, a stinging in her eyes beginning.

"Okay?" he repeated, waiting for her to nod. "Okay. Did you… Do you… Have you ever… exchanged services for money from someone in the castle?" Dean hunched over, bracing his elbows on his knees. "It's okay if you have, I just think I can help you more if you're honest and I know the whole story."

"Services for money?" Ginny questioned, honest confusion on her face.

"You're really gonna make me say it, aren't you?" he asked. "Are you exchanging sexual favours for money?"

Ginny's jaw dropped. She leaned forward and smack Dean's arm with all her might. "What the fuck is wrong with you? How dare you!" she yelled, smacking him a few more times until he caught her wrist.

"Ginny," he said seriously. "It's what everyone is saying. I didn't believe it, but so many people are talking about it. I had to ask."

"How… how… just, I don't understand. Why would someone say I was doing that?" she asked, taking her hand back from Dean to cover her face.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. I was just in the shower this morning and all I could hear was Finley Brown yammering on about Malfoy giving you money for oral sex, and I asked him if—"

Ginny stood suddenly, the chair she had been sitting in screeching on the floor. "Malfoy," she seethed. "That vile bastard!"

"Gin?" Dean asked, standing next to her.

"Isn't it obvious? Malfoy told everyone I'm a prostitute because he's a fucking tool," Ginny snapped.

"Where are you going?"

"To find that son of a bitch and get him to admit he lied to everyone because he feeds off of attention, no matter how good or bad," Ginny said.

Draco rubbed his eyes. He was going to be late for his first class, and he was going to fail his quiz in Muggle studies. Why had he been such an asshole to Ginny Weasley? She really wasn't that insufferable. He could have just paid attention to her and he wouldn't have had to stay up all night reading notes out of the journal she had mistakenly left in his room. Now he was running on three hours of sleep and still had no idea what an oven did. He should have just apologised to her and let her explain it all.

"Fuck," he whispered, throwing his covers off of himself and sitting up. He got ready as quickly as he could, which was rather slowly considering the fact that one more tardy to transfiguration meant a detention with McGonagall. "Shit." He really was screwed.

Once dressed, he stepped out of his room through the portrait hole. He immediately he saw a group of Slytherin boys, all from the fourth year. They were huddled around each other and looked over at him as he passed.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," one called out, and then fell back and chuckled.

Draco turned and stopped, staring at them. He was shocked that they would dare speak to him, let alone say anything biting. "Excuse me," Draco said, raising an eyebrow and walking towards the pack.

One of the boys laughed and stepped forward. "It's okay, Draco…"

Draco sneered at the boy's use of his first name.

"We know about how you have to pay for girls to spend anytime with you." The rest of the gang laughed again.

"What did you just say to me?" Draco reached into his pocket and gripped at his wand. "You do realise you are speaking to the Head boy, don't you?" He was saying it to remind himself, as well. He couldn't just hex anyone he wanted to anymore. He had responsibilities.

"You pay girls to fuck you, mate. We all know," the tall one closest to him said with a smirk.

Draco pulled his wand out and shoved the boy against the wall, his wand poking into his neck. "Don't ever call me 'mate'. You are not my equal. Got it?" Draco prodded the boy with his wand more when the boy didn't respond. "Do you understand me?"

"…Y-yes," he stuttered, all arrogance gone from his face.

"Tell me what the hell you lot are on about!" Draco demanded. "Or I'll give you all detention for two months with Snape. He won't go easy on you."

A small boy from the back of the group raised his hand up. "Erm… Mr. Malfoy, we heard it from a girl in our year. Well… Rex's girlfriend actually told us," the boy answered, motioning towards the first boy who had spoken.

Rex rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. "Yeah, Denise said she heard it in the girl's dorm from Pansy, said you paid some girl in Gryffindor to give you a blowjob." He shrugged again and looked at the floor. "I guess everyone heard Pansy talking about it because she was so mad."

"What else?" Draco asked, letting go of the boy he was holding and putting his wand back in his pocket.

"Erm," the only one to not speak started. "I heard Blaise said Pansy was extra pissed because it was some girl Pansy hated. Some girl Pansy always complains about I guess… a… I heard Blaise describe the girl."

Draco motioned for the boy to continue. "Yes?"

"A firecracker," he said. "Blaise said he wasn't surprised you had to pay for her to touch you. I guess… I guess the girl is quite fit. I didn't hear her name, though."

"I did," the boy he had been prodding spoke up. He was rubbing the red spot from Draco's wand. "Ginny Weasley. I remembered it because she held a tutoring session last year for third years failing potions. She's well fit," he smiled again.

Draco was so furious he couldn't speak. The girl was so mad about their tutor session that she started a rumour he was soliciting sex from her? He took back every apology he had thought about giving her that morning.

"Oh yeah, the redhead. Merlin, she is lush," the short one chimed in.

"Shut up," Draco spat. "If I ever hear any of you speaking about any of this I will personally see to your social lives being destroyed. Get to class now!"

The group sprung into action quickly, dispersing and all walking in different directions. Draco glanced at his watch and cursed. He had to go to Transfiguration.

He had never dealt with such vicious rumours. He was normally on the other side: the one creating the rumour. But this was different. That little redhead had said just enough to ruin his life at Hogwarts. The teachers would no doubt hear about him asking her to give him sexual favours in exchange for money. But his peers… they would hear that he needed to pay a girl to touch him, and a Gryffindor at that. He would never be able to live it down. Damage control was needed as soon as possible.

As soon as he approached the open door to his class, and he saw his friends within, he knew he had to skip the class. He couldn't face anyone. They had all heard the rumour. Draco needed to find the lying little weasel before she told anyone else anymore lies. He was going to get her to admit to everyone that she was just trying to get attention. That, or he would just kill her. Which ever seemed easier once he found her.


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny stomped up to the portrait to Draco's private rooms and readied her fist to bang on it.

"He's not in, my darling," said the woman in the portrait, a disapproving look on her face.

"I don't care," Ginny snapped, rapping her fist on the portrait firmly. "Malfoy!" she yelled, pounding on the door as hard as she could. "Malfoy, you bellend!"

The woman in the portrait gasped, moving into the nearest painting. "How crass! I told you he isn't in," she yelled at the redhead.

"Weasley!" a voice spat from behind Ginny.

She turned to look at Draco, his face bright red and his hands in fists. There was something in the bottom of her stomach that enjoyed seeing him so flustered, but she couldn't be bothered to try and figure out what it was. "Just the arsehole I was looking for," she barked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"My room, now!" he ordered, opening the portrait himself, the woman who inhabited it far down the hall.

He slammed the door behind her and turned quickly, his eyes mad and his lips forming a sneer. "How dare you?" he asked simply, watching her cross his room.

She spun around, her hair flying. "Me? How dare you?" she accused, her finger in the air.

He scoffed, looking around the room in shock. "You have no right to be mad at me. I did nothing compared to what you did. A bit of angst during a study session is nothing."

"A bit of angst? A bit of angst?" she laughed sarcastically. "You told people I was a prostitute."

"I did no such thing," he breathed, offended at her accusation. "You told people I paid you to suck me off."

Ginny made a face of disgust. "As if I would ever tell people that there was anything you could do to get me to… to… do anything with you."

He made a show of rolling his eyes. "You had your little Gryffindor buddies tell Pansy that I paid you for oral sex, don't fucking deny it."

Her mouth was agape. "Malfoy, why the fuck would I tell people I was a prostitute? Are you really trying to convince me that I started a life-ruining rumour about myself?" She threw her arms up in the air.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't tell people that I needed to pay someone for sex. I am perfectly capable of finding willing women; I would never need to pay for anything," he explained. "This is a life-ruining rumour about me. People can't think I need to pay for sexual favours."

"Malfoy, who bloody cares if you pay for sex, people will forget about that in a week. No one lives down having sex with someone for money. I cannot believe you could accuse me of spread a rumour about me being a prostitute." She flopped onto his bed, an exasperated sigh coming out of her mouth.

He watched her with confusion. He had no idea why she felt comfortable enough in his room that she would lay on his bed, and he was starting to believe that she really hadn't started the rumour. He looked away from her after a moment, noticing he had a good view of her maroon knickers. "Well if you didn't start it, who did?"

"I don't know," she groaned, her hands covering her face.

"Well, it can't have just come from nowhere, Weasley. Someone…"

"Merlin's beard," she cursed slowly, her hands moving from her face. "Parvati Patil saw me leave your room. Oh no… and she, she was asking me things and I insinuated that you weren't paying me enough for what we were doing."

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "You told Parvati Patil, the second biggest gossip in the fucking school, that I paid you for some unknown service and it wasn't enough money? What were you thinking?"

She propped herself up on her elbows. "I was thinking that her first assumption wouldn't be that I was giving you a… a…" she gestured towards him and laid back down.

"I can't understand how anyone could believe you would have sex with someone for any reason; you can't even say blow job. Here, I'll lay it out for you, Weasley: people think I gave you money so you would suck my cock," he said, smiling as he used explicit language.

She made a face at him. "Thanks, Malfoy. I'd rather not think about your package."

Draco took a seat at his desk chair and let out a slow breath. "Okay, well, we know how the rumour started now. We're on the same side. We want it to stop."

"Easy," Ginny said, sitting up and moving to lean against his headboard, her bum on his pillow. "We just tell people the truth."

He shook his head. She didn't seem to be as smart as he had believed she was. He was also bothered by how much he liked seeing her so comfortable on his bed. Very few women could pull off that nonchalant-come hither look while fully dressed. He supposed she probably wasn't trying to seduce him though, although he could never be sure. "Not easy, and get your arse off my pillow; I put my face there." Snark would cover any emotion that wasn't disgust at the thought of her bum on his pillow.

She sat up enough to pull the pillow out from underneath her and tossed it at his head. She smiled as it zoomed towards him, a look of panic on his face. "You are a bloody pain. Why can't we just tell the truth?"

"Because no one would believe it," he said, picking his pillow up off of the floor and setting it in his lap.

"It's the truth, Malfoy. What would anyone believe more than the truth?"

He looked at her as if she had just said the stupidest thing he had ever heard. "What would people believe more than the truth? Everything. They would believe that Ginny Weasley, the Gryffindor Princess and Potter's biggest fan, would get on her knees for me for a few galleons. People like a good story. You giving me lessons is not a good story. We need something bigger." He wracked his mind for something more shocking then oral sex for money. He was having trouble of thinking anything. And he couldn't help but notice there was a gap in Ginny's shirt created by a pull between two buttons. He could see the little bow in the centre of her bra.

Then he realised she had said something. "Huh?" he asked, feeling dumb for getting so lost in his thoughts.

" _I said_ , the only things more interesting than the rumour are more insulting," she said, leaning her head back against his plush headboard.

"For example?" he prompted her.

"For example, something more outrageous than oral sex is… well… regular sex, but I suppose that is also just more embarrassing," she shrugged.

"Weasley, the embarrassing part is the money. 'Regular sex'," he said in air quotes, "is not more embarrassing, but it is more interesting… You might be on to something."

"So we just had regular sex, no money? That's not more interesting than oral with money," she pointed out.

He nodded. "We need to find the right combination of shocking but not damaging. What's something that would shock your idiotic brother more than money for a bj?"

She held her head, thinking about it for a moment. Then she looked up at him, a look of clarity crossed her face. "If we were dating," she said simply. "He would be absolutely shocked to find out we were secretly dating."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Hmm," he debated. Dating would explain the sex. Secret dating would be very interesting. "Star-crossed lovers," he nodded. "It's been done, but it's always interesting."

Ginny moved forward, sitting up on her knees, getting closer to him. "So we'll tell people we're dating? That will replace the prostitute rumour?"

Draco huffed, annoyed that she only cared about the part of the rumour that hurt her. "Yes, Weasley. It's believable enough to convince people the other one is a lie, and it's interesting. We just play it up until that's all people care about, and then we stage a big break up. Easy."

She nodded thoughtfully, fixing the edge of her school skirt. "So what were people saying to you?"

"Hmm?" he asked, knowing full well what she was asking.

"What did people say to you about the rumour? How did you find out about it?" she asked.

He stared at her with the same look he gave first years. It said: don't think you can ask me things.

She shrugged. "I got yelled at by my entire house. One girl thought I was trying to proposition her boyfriend and… well I guess one guy tried to get me to sleep with him for money." She sighed and frowned. "I hope this new lie of ours doesn't make my house angrier."

"It's on our own terms," Draco said. "We can say anything we like about our relationship. We can make up the premises, establish rules, all of it."

Ginny nodded, a small smirk on her face. "You kissed me on the Quidditch pitch in the rain after we had been arguing about who had a right to practice on the empty field."

"You sure came up with that quickly," he couldn't help but chuckle. "Very cliché; the girls will love it."

"Anything you want to add to our relationship?" she asked, shaking her long waves down her back.

"It's consensual," he said simply.

She laughed. "Well, yes, I would assume it is. How long have we been together?"

"Two months?" he suggested.

"How will we come out to everyone?" She stood up from the bed.

"Dinner? We could walk in together," he said.

"Holding hands," she added. "And you'll kiss my cheek when we part ways."

He looked at her with squinted eyes. "You really have this stuff all planned out in your head."

"I'm a really creative person," she explained, cocking her hip, threatening him to question her again.

He stood, assuming she was signalling she was ready to leave. "So do you want to meet here at 6?"

"Perfect," she agreed. "I will be hiding in the library until then."

"You can hide here if you want. There's a sitting room through there," he said, pointing over his shoulder to the double doors by his wardrobe.

"That's okay, I'll find something to read in the library. But thanks," she said.

He didn't know why he'd offered her to stay anyway; he found her annoying at best. "Well, see you later then." He pushed the portrait door open for her.

"See you later," she smiled, hopping out of the hole into the hall.


End file.
